Editorial: Collaboration needed to curb youth violence

A youth gang culture has been tearing at the fabric of urban neighborhoods in the Bay State for more than a decade now and efforts to stamp it out have been largely unsuccessful.

Fueled by poverty, tough family situations and an adolescent’s need to belong, gangs often fill a tragic void in a young person’s life. But gangs are a road to nowhere for the youths involved.

If eradicating communities of the scourge of youth crime was easy, however, it would have happened by now.

That’s why we’re encouraged that the state isn’t giving up the fight to save its young people and the communities where they live.

Last week, as part of the state’s “Safe and Successful Youth Initiative,” Gov. Deval L. Patrick awarded $9.7 million in grants to 11 communities for reducing gangs, drugs and violence among young men – including $800,000 for Springfield and $441,403 for Holyoke.

The grants recognize that reducing youth crime requires a comprehensive, collaborative approach. So the funds will provide additional services and supports to males between the ages 14 to 24 who are likely to commit a shooting or a stabbing or to be a victim of violence.

Springfield will contract with about a dozen different organizations including the Baystate Medical Center and Roca, a private nonprofit organization that has been operating in the city since July of last year. In Holyoke, a host of local agencies will share the grant money.

Services could include street outreach – which Roca does – as well as trauma counseling, employment, education and efforts to improve families.

We hope that the reinforcements these grants provide will help communities turn a corner in their fight to reclaim their neighborhoods – and their young people.

The Republican | Greg SaulmonSaratoga Street in Springfield's South End, May 2009.